In what could alleviate high prices of hard disk drives (HDDs) after the devastating flood in Thailand that affected HDD foundries, industry sources predict that the reconstruction efforts of these foundries, led by Western Digital, will pay off to a large extant. In Q1 2012 alone, global volumes of HDDs are expected to restore to 80% of what they were before the floods. The global production of HDDs will increase to 140-145 million units.

HDD vendors across the board have exhausted their inventories in Dec-Jan when they supply PC/notebook ODMs their inventories of HDDs, but they haven't hiked quotes due to the off-season that followed. However, the flood situation isn't the only factor that will affect HDD prices. With increase in prices of raw materials, components, and labour-costs, HDD prices are expected to go up 30-40%.

20 Comments on HDD Volumes To Restore 80% in Q1 2012

Yeah tell me about it ,gee sh they were for a 2tb hd last year around $85 now they are around $175-$185,Now they want increase them 30-40% again get real,People will just buy SDD,and run there old HD for storage.

So happy I bought my 2TBs for storage last year, got both for like 90 bucks total. Now the same terrabyte drives are like 160 bucks for some odd reason. Just going to hope these never die and buy bigger SSDs as the years go on.

by: H82LUZ73Yeah tell me about it ,gee sh they were for a 2tb hd last year around $85 now they are around $175-$185,Now they want increase them 30-40% again get real,People will just buy SDD,and run there old HD for storage.

i dont think so the price will not increase 40% from the current price from the old price
so there will be a drop in price just not as low as before:shadedshu

Supply & demand... they only have demand now because their supply is low... once their supply issue is solved then they will have to drop prices to get rid of the excess stock to the average consumer and keep that balance.

Im sure most people like myself used to buy a new HDD when upgrading their PC as they were so cheap... the kind of crap that most home users (including myself) store on their 1TB+ HDD's is so petty anyways that its not worth paying big money for.

Samsung> WD "Well we could say that raw materials have increased substantially even though HDD production is back up and we haven't reduced the cost per GB to what it was before the floods it will give us an excuse to hike them up to where they were when they were at their highest during the quote haha shortage!!!"

samsungseagate> wd "well we could say that raw materials have increased substantially even though hdd production is back up and we haven't reduced the cost per gb to what it was before the floods it will give us an excuse to hike them up to where they were when they were at their highest during the quote haha shortage!!!"

by: twicksistedSupply & demand... they only have demand now because their supply is low... once their supply issue is solved then they will have to drop prices to get rid of the excess stock to the average consumer and keep that balance.

Don't be surprised if the supply doesn't reach pre-flood levels any time soon. Hard drive manufacturers have realized that they can make hefty profits by reducing the supply, and there are only two big manufacturers left in the game.

by: Static~ChargeDon't be surprised if the supply doesn't reach pre-flood levels any time soon. Hard drive manufacturers have realized that they can make hefty profits by reducing the supply, and there are only two big manufacturers left in the game.

what is this the oil market?!!!!
they would be shooting themselves in the foot because SSDs are the future